So when I came across these sticky date cookies in my very reliable source of Woman’s Day, I was ecstatic. I love sticky date cake, especially the one from Gourmet Pizza Kitchen – You give me that cake, some caramel sauce and some vanilla ice cream and you will literally send me into a trance. You’ll send my brother out of this world, as seen by his love of the homemade sticky date pudding I made on his birthday last year 🙂

In order to make these cookies truly reminiscent of the traditional pudding cake, you do need the make the simple and delicious caramel icing – but of course, if you read my blog you would know, of my family’s ‘cut back sugar’ campaign so that did not happen 😦

What did happen though (after a LOT of adapting I have to add) was a deliciously soft and chewy cookie quite similar to the caramel drizzled one found at the Cookie Man in their indulgent range 🙂

It had a lot of deep and dark sweetness due to the brown sugar and golden syrup combination which matched the sweetness of the dates to perfection without overdoing it – team that with oats and melted butter and Voila! – You have a similar to Anzac Cookie style sticky date cake inside a cookie 🙂

The reason for my many adaptations were simple and necessary but did not lessen the cookie in any way I believe if not improved it 🙂

I added 1 egg for 1/2 recipe (making whole recipes is quite rare) – the end batter was simply too dry to roll into balls and flatten so it definitely needed a binding agent – milk would not be a good option since its flavour does not work with sticky date

I added 1 tsp vanilla essence for 1/2 the recipe though I might try 1/2 tsp coffee essence next time for extra flavour

I increased the amount of golden syrup to 2 tbs for 1/2 the recipe since 1 tsp really didn’t give enough kick

Enjoy this delicious cake-turned-cookie dessert with a cup of coffee (or in my case hot chocolate) NOW 😀

Sticky Date CookiesAdapted from Woman’s Day Magazine (sometime in 2011 – not sure exactly which month)

Combine dates, butter and syrup in a medium saucepan. Heat together over medium heat until butter is boiling (I let mine become a little brown). Add in baking soda. Remove from heat.

Once mixture is lukewarm, mix in eggs and essence until well combined.

Place butter mixture in a blender or food processor and pulse until smooth or very slightly chunky.

Combine oats, sifted flour and sugar in a large bowl. Gently, pour in butter mixture while continually stirring.

Mix until well combined. Roll together heaped tablespoons of cookie dough and place on baking trays, 5cm apart. Flatten to approximately 1 cm thickness

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden (mine were done in 15 so watch out)

Cool on trays for 5-10 minutes before cooling completely on a wire rack

Box and store in an airtight container.

Icing: Combine sugar, butter and milk in a saucepan over low heat and stir until mixed through and sugar has dissolved (approximately 2 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in icing sugar. Wrap saucepan top in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes to thicken slightly. Pipe or drizzle using a small nozzle over cooled cookies.

Thanks my friend – and dates are awesome in dessert 😀
The American equivalent is corn syrup – I think you get both dark and light varieties of it, so using darker one will probably be a little more stronger in its flavour but it is up to you 🙂
Enjoy!

Mmm these sound amazing! I’m loving the caramel topping. Sticky anything sweet is delicious to me! I think I’m already obsessed with this sticky date cake you talk of and I’ve never tried it before, Yum!!

Thank you my friend – and I adore dates in dessert 😀
Um, these were not overly sweet with a brown sugar date combination, perhaps if you increase the date quantity to 1 cup, and make the brown sugar to 1/2? I wouldn’t suggest too much because initially they were quite normal, not overly sugary cookies 🙂
Hope this helps and enjoy!